1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to computer networks, and more particularly, to an apparatus and method for consolidating block level access to remote storage.
2. Background of the Invention
With the increasing popularity of Internet commerce and network centric computing, businesses and other organizations are becoming more and more reliant on information. To handle all of this data, wide area file systems such as, for example, the Cisco Wide Area File System (WAFS) (manufactured by Cisco Systems, Inc., of San Jose, Calif.), have become very popular.
The Cisco WAFS file engine eliminates the need for branch office file servers by consolidating remote storage with a data center for file level access via file level access protocols such as the Common Internet File System (CIFS) and Network File System (NFS). However, conventional wide area file systems WAFS do not currently provide a solution for consolidating block level access to a centralized block storage data center.
Accordingly, it will be appreciated that there exists a need for mechanisms which provide solutions for consolidating block level access to remote storage.